11 Dec 2020 | Amateur golf |
Metro stars lead Port Phillip Am
by Martin Blake
Two Metropolitan stars -- Jeneath Wong and Ted Donoghue -- have surged to the lead in the Port Phillip Open Amateur in Melbourne.
Teenager Wong, last year’s Vic Open Amateur winner and already a three-time club champion at Metro, shot an even-par 74 despite three bogeys on the back nine at Kingston Heath today, and she leads the women's field by two shots.
The door was opened for her by overnight leader Stephanie Bunque (Victoria), who shot an eight over par 82 for the day after opening with a 69.
Wong, 16, emigrated to Australia in 2015 from Malaysia, and she is also the reigning Riversdale Cup champion .
She has a habit of frontrunning strongly; she dominated both Riversdale this year by six shots and last year’s Victorian Junior Open by 13 shots.
Grace Kim (NSW) is the closest challenger at one under par, while The National’s Molly McLean is third at one over par.
WA’s Kirsten Rudgeley and Tasmanian Amateur champion Mackenzie Wilson are in the mix as well.
Donoghue, who is a member of Golf Australia's elite squads, is the reigning club champion at Metropolitan and he vaulted to the lead in the men's event with a second-round 71, one under par. He is at even-par overall, two shots ahead of a cluster that includes defending champion Louis Dobbelaar of Queensland.
The 23-year-old won the Dunes Medal last year on his return to top amateur golf after a hiatus of several years.
Joint first-round leader Chris Fan of New South Wales is among the bunch tied for second but the other leader from Thursday, Henry Fewell, slumped with an 80 today. In the breezy conditions scoring was high; one of the favorites Lukas Michel shot an 81 today and Davis Cup tennis star Sam Groth missed the cut after shooting 85-80.
The Port Phillip Amateur, which serves as the qualifying tournament for next week's Victorian Amateur, concludes with 36 holes at Commonwealth on Saturday. The top eight in both men's and women's events proceed to the state amateur finals next Monday and Tuesday at Metropolitan.